Wednesday, March 09, 2011

As expected sophomore forward Jordan Williams was voted as a 1st team All-ACC player. Williams' play, like that of his teammates (most, anyway), trailed off towards the end of the season if only slightly. He scored 135 points in the first half of the ACC season and scored 136 in the second half. His shooting percentage dropped from 53% to 50% in the last eight games while his points per shot dropped from 1.48 to 1.36, both excellent numbers. His free throw shooting improved from 63% to an excellent 75% in the last eight games. His rebounding dipped slightly from 11.8 to 11.0 in the second half of the ACC season and while that number dropped slightly he went from 7 double digit rebounding games in the first eight games to only 4 in the last eight. His number of turnovers and fouls also increased over the last eight games. It certainly was a phenomenal season for the sophomore, the fifth best season for a sophomore under Gary Williams (thanks terrapinstats!), behind only Joe Smith, Jerrod Mustaf, Juan Dixon and Greivis Vasquez. His 11.8 rebounds per game is the best total of any player in the Gary Williams era. Even with all the accolades Jordan Williams has room for significant improvement. His offensive game could use some refinement as he could add a hook shot or step back jumper to his low post moves. His passing out of double teams needs significant improvement as he rarely looks for teammates notching only 11 assists in ACC play. He also needs to work on his defense to become a respectable low post defender. His footwork and reactions are far to slow and he is often not in the right place as a help defender. Williams is never going to be a dominating post defender but he needs to improve his skills as to not be a liability.

Freshman guard Terrell Stoglin was named to the All-ACC freshman team giving Maryland a player on the team in consecutive seasons, Jordan Williams was voted on the team last year. Stoglin rapidly improved at the end of the season after going through a slump and had three of the top five scoring games for a freshman in ACC play under Gary Williams. Only Johnny Rhodes and Joe Smith averaged more points in ACC play as freshmen than Stoglin did at 11.7 points per game. Only Vasquez, Eric Hayes, and Steve Blake averaged more assists per game as a freshman than Stoglin's 3.9 in ACC play. Stoglin made the kinds of mistakes that all freshmen point guards tend to make but seemed to getting better with his decision making as the year went on and showed the ability to be an explosive scorer unlike any other freshman guard during the Gary Williams era. His ability to pick his scoring opportunities while still involving his teammates will be a challenge next season, something scoring point guards all struggle with and not all (John Gilchrist) succeed in figuring out. Stoglin's on-ball defense should dramatically improve because at times he is only a one way player as a freshman. His variety of scoring from 3-point shooting, floaters, step back jumpers to driving the lane make him a potential All-ACC selection in the coming years. If Pe'Shon Howard, who had a fairly good freshmen campaign on his own, can develop next to Stoglin and recruits Sterling Gibbs and Nick Faust are ready to contribute the Terps could have the deep backcourt they lacked this year.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Stoglin = Gilchrest. I posted before that I hope Howard develops as the primary ball handler with Stoglin playing the shooting guard. I don't know how much more I can handle Stoglin not running the offense and just launching a shot.

I think there wa a perfect example on a fast break against Duke where Stoglin decided to go at the rim instead of kicking it back out to Tucker for an open 3. Even the commentators mention it. Just plain selfish. God help us next year.

Don't see the Gilchrist comparison at all. Stoglin had performances that no freshman under Gary Williams with the exception of Joe Smith could match. I'm not sure what else you expect from a lightly regarded freshman coming in and starting in his first season. Every player who is a scorer is going to take bad shots. Juan Dixon took bad shots in his time at Maryland. Greivis Vasquez sometimes took bad shots. You have to live with that because those players can do things that the role players on your squad cannot. I'm not sure Stoglin giving up looks so that Sean Mosley or Cliff Tucker can clang bad shots off the rim is a great alternative. Tucker took a slew of bad shots this season, as many or more than Stoglin. Stoglin's assist % was better than Howards and he has superior offensive skills so it would make sense for him to shoot more. I'm not sure you realize that Maryland would have lost far more games had Stoglin not been looking to score like he did.

Terrell is much better with the ball in his hands than playing shooting guard. That would be a bad use of his talents to move him off the ball. Hopefully he can stay at PG with Howard and Sterling Gibbs sharing the ball handling duties. I had similar differences with fans who hated the way Vasquez played for the prior four years. Fact is you are going to be more successful accepting that players like Stoglin and Vasquez will take bad shots from time to time than trying to turn them into something they are not. Perhaps some of the younger players will show more ability than the seniors and juniors who struggled through bad seasons this year. If that is the case I expect Stoglin will share more of the scoring load. If they don't Maryland will need his ability to score and that may require him dominating the ball too much for some fans. I don't think Terrell is as selfish as you do. Give the kid a little time to mature and get a better feel for the college game.